ASSAM

Assam to ‘get back’ its State bird from Czech Republic

The State forest department will bring five individuals ducks – two males and three females – from the Czech zoo as part of a joint international animal breeding programme.

The State forest department plans to release offsprings of the duck in the wild following their captive breeding in the State zoo.

While catching of the duck is prohibited, none of the zoos in India have the avian species.

The exact population of this duck in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is not known, but according to work done by naturalist Dr Anwaruddin Choudhury and researchers of Aaranyak, its population could range between 150-400 in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

This species’ population is suspected to have decreased very rapidly owing to widespread loss, degradation and disturbance of lowland riverine habitats. Resultant small and fragmented population are susceptible to hunting – opportunistic collection of eggs and chicks – and other stochastic events,” it says.

INTERNATIONAL

China reported the first case from new Coronavirus

Chinese health authorities reported that a new virus implicated in a pneumonia outbreak was identified in the city of Wuhan, China. The researchers discovered that the new strain of the virus is that of the coronavirus.

Coronaviruses infects the respiratory tract.

In 2002-03, Coronavirus killed more than 700 people in the world. The virus originated in China. There is no specific vaccine for the virus as of 2019. The virus was first identified in Saudi Arabia, in 2012. Most cases were found in the Arabian peninsula.

Raisina Dialogue to begin

India’s flagship global conference on geopolitics and geo-economics Raisina Dialogue began with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the inaugural session in New Delhi.

Seven former heads of state or government will share their views on important challenges facing the world.

The fifth edition of the prestigious Raisina Dialogue, jointly organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation, will bring together 700 international participants from over a 100 countries.

The three-day conference will see participation of 12 foreign ministers, including from Russia, Iran, Australia, Maldives, South Africa, Estonia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Latvia, Uzbekistan and the EU.

NATIONAL

Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre

Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. Through the portal, people can report cyber crimes online.

Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C):

I4C and the portal will let all cybercrime-related complaints be accessed by law enforcement agencies in the states and union territories (UTs) to take action as per the law.

More than 700 police districts and more than 3,900 police stations have been connected to the portal, www.cybercrime.gov.in, so far.

It is a citizen-centric initiative.

The portal aims to boost the capacity of the law enforcement agencies to investigate cases

It is expected that it will improve the success rate of prosecutions.
The portal also focuses on specific crimes especially those related to finance and social media like cyberbullying, stalking, etc.

It will improve coordination amongst the agencies of law enforcement in different states, districts, and police stations to deal with cybercrimes in a coordinated and effective manner.

The 7 main components are:

1) National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit
2) National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal
3) National Cyber Crime Training Centre
4) Cyber Crime Ecosystem Management Unit
5) National Cyber Crime Research and Innovation Centre
6) National Cyber Crime Forensic Laboratory Ecosystem
7) Platform for Joint Cyber Crime Investigation Team.

Centre promulgated Ordinance to amend coal mining laws

The Central government announced the promulgation of the ordinance for amendment in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act, 1957 and the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015.

Provisions of the Ordinance:

The amendments Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 will offer unexplored and partially explored coal blocks for mining through prospecting license-cum-mining lease (PL-cum-ML).

It will enable any India-registered company to invest in the coal mining sector and develop coal blocks. The companies must have prior experience of mining in India to bid for the blocks.

It will allow FDI in the coal mining sector by removing the restrictions and eligibility criteria for participation.

Easing restrictions on end-user is expected to open up the coal sector for commercial mining for all local and global firms.

GoI expects to attract investments from Indian and global corporates as Coal India has been tasked to produce one billion tonnes by 2023-24.

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